Tag: Project Ágora

Project Orion: CaixaBank Launches the Sale of Another €600M in Doubtful Loans

23 July 2018 – Voz Pópuli

CaixaBank’s divestment machine is not shutting down, even for a second. The entity led by Gonzalo Gortázar has just closed the largest real estate sale in its history, a €12.8 billion portfolio, which it has sold to the fund Lone Star, and it has already launched another new operation.

The latest deal is Project Orion, through which CaixaBank wants to transfer a €600 million portfolio of problem loans to opportunistic funds, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. Unlike on other occasions, the portfolio does not comprise loans to property developers but rather credits to small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs). The loans are secured by real estate collateral, be it property purchased by the delinquent SMEs or other property offered as collateral when asking for a loan for business activity.

Project Orion was launched a few weeks ago and is expected to be closed after the summer. Currently, interested parties are immersed in the non-binding offer phase.

From flats to loans

The former Caixa is placing this portfolio on the market to reduce its volume of doubtful assets, having eliminated its foreclosed assets from its balance sheet. The entity agreed with Lone Star the sale of €12.8 billion in flats, land and developments for €6.7 billion.

On Friday, CaixaBank presents its results for the first half of the year, which will show the first snapshot of the entity following the agreement with Lone Star.

In addition to that agreement, the entity sold a portfolio of €650 million in problem loans to Cerberus, as part of Project Ágora.

Following those operations, CaixaBank is left with €3 billion in rental homes and €13 billion in doubtful loans on its balance sheet, in net terms.

The market expects the entity to make another major divestment of doubtful loans over the coming months, by selling an even larger portfolio than Project Orion. With that, the Catalan entity would be in a strong position to launch its new strategic plan, which it will announce at the end of the year.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Project Ágora: CaixaBank Sells €650M NPL Portfolio to Cerberus

21 June 2018 – Voz Pópuli

CaixaBank is getting serious with the digestion of its real estate. The Catalan bank has just closed its first major divestment of 2018 and is analysing another possible large-scale operation to be completed in the second half of the year, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli.

The sale that has just been announced is Project Ágora, a €650 million portfolio whose transfer has been agreed with Cerberus. According to the same sources, the US fund and CaixaBank have already signed a pre-agreement and are now negotiating the small print of the deal. Cerberus could pay around €200 million, according to market estimates.

Project Ágora comprises around 150 unpaid loans from large companies backed by retail premises, offices, industrial land and residential assets.

Strategic revision

Following this sale, the market is expecting CaixaBank to close a macro-operation during the second half of the year. The repurchase of Servihabitat, announced two weeks ago, is seen as a preliminary step, since that is what Santander did with Aliseda before it sold Popular’s real estate to Blackstone.

The sources consulted indicate that no process is underway yet, although the entity is reportedly working on some numbers and doing some preparation work in that regard. The entity led by Gonzalo Gortázar (pictured above) is being advised by consultancy firms, including KPMG. The Madrilenian banker wants to know whether undertaking an operation such as Quasar (Popular-Blackstone) or Marina (BBVA-Cerberus) will require it to recognise any new provisions.

CaixaBank has €14 billion in foreclosed assets on its balance sheet, worth €5.8 billion. That represents a discount of 58%, according to its accounts for the first quarter. Santander sold Popular’s real estate at a discount of 67% and BBVA sold its assets at a discount of 62% (…).

Gortázar’s team wants to avoid the market fixating on CaixaBank following the sales undertaken by Santander and BBVA, and the operations that Sabadell has underway.

The commitment from Cerberus

With Project Ágora, Cerberus is continuing to grow its real estate business in Spain. The fund led in Spain by BBVA’s former Finance Director, Manuel González-Cid, already purchased a portfolio from CaixaBank at the end of last year – Project Egeo – and is completing the purchase of 80% of BBVA’s real estate for €4 billion. For this, the comments to be issued by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD) in the next few weeks will be critical.

In addition to the portfolios that it has been buying, Cerberus has a large part of its Spanish real estate interests in Haya Real Estate. After trying, unsuccessfully, to debut that entity on the stock market before the summer, the fund is negotiating its key contract and/or a possible acquisition of assets with Sareb. The fund certaintly has a great deal at stake with that operation.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake